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STRIKES

Danish labour conflict still possible after marathon Sunday negotiations

Over 21 hours of negotiations between municipal and union negotiators at Denmark’s official labour conciliatory body Forligsinstitutionen (FI) have continued into Monday morning with no agreement yet reached.

Published: 16 April 2018 09:58 CEST
Danish labour conflict still possible after marathon Sunday negotiations
People outside Denmark’s official labour conciliatory body Forligsinstitutionen on Sunday April 15th. Photo: Uffe Weng/Ritzau Scanpix

Michael Ziegler, the lead negotiator for municipal employers, said that some progress had been made in the negotiations, which began at 10am on Sunday.

But there remains a possibility that no agreement will be reached between the two sides, resulting in a wide-reaching labour conflict.

“I still view the risk of a large-scale conflict as being very high given that we are now one day closer to the absolute deadline,” Ziegler told Ritzau.

“Now that I have added things up, we have not moved a huge amount overall, even though there has been some positive development,” he added.

At the end of last month, FI delayed industrial action by two weeks to give the parties more time to find common ground. If agreement is not reached, strikes could begin on April 22nd, with a subsequent lockout not before April 28th.

A deal on new terms for public sector workers in Denmark must be reached in order to avoid industrial action in the form of a strike and retaliatory 'lockout', which would have a severe effect on public services in the country.

The deal (overenskomst in Danish) affects people employed by the Danish state, municipalities and regional authorities, with a potential labour conflict affecting public services including healthcare, transport, education and the prison service.

Anders Bondo Christensen of the Danish Union of Teachers, lead negotiator for municipal employees, shared the caution expressed by Ziegler, but added there were “a couple of chances left”.

“We still have a couple of chances before the deadline, although it does not look good that we have not gained more from these long hours,” he said.

Christensen was unable to give further details on the obstacles that stood in the way of agreement being reached due to an embargo on making details of the talks public.

“Everyone knows what the general problems are. We will not have a degradation of our pay and working conditions,” he said.

“We are seeing an attack on the things we are entitled to: customary [public] holidays, paid lunch breaks, rights for seniors and so on,” the lead negotiator continued.

Representatives from regional authorities – responsible for the management of large parts of the healthcare sector – are scheduled to meet for negotiations from 10am Monday, with state negotiations to follow at 5pm.

Negotiators from all sides – state, municipal and regional – have been summoned for joint talks on Tuesday at 2pm, Ziegler and Christensen both confirmed.

READ ALSO: Danish public sector workers cancel holidays as 'historic' strike, lockout threaten to become reality

TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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